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Josh DeChellis Dodges a Bullet, and Hits a Bullseye

<div class="image align_left"><img src="http://nymag.com/images/2/daily/food/07/02/09_dechellis_sml.jpg"/></div>When Josh DeChellis parted ways with Jeffrey Chodorow&#8217;s <a href="http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/kobe-club/index.html">Kobe Club</a> in November (as you may remember <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/food/2006/11/josh_dechellis_kobe_club_wont_consummate_relationship.html">reading here</a>), it seemed like the Sumile Sushi chef had missed a major opportunity. But now, with Kobe Club <a href="http://nymag.com/restaurants/reviews/27282/index.html">battered by the critics</a> (with one <a href="http://nymag.com/restaurants/reviews/insatiable/26268/index.html">notable exception</a>), DeChellis smells rosier by the minute.

This is also thanks, in no small part, to him recasting his restaurant as Sumile Sushi: The pairing of his fusion prowess with Toshio Oguma’s classical sushi technique has resulted in one of New York’s better sushi selections — which we just happen to have available here, as part of our grand, ever-growing, ever-updated menu database. (DeChellis also tells us that Sumile Tokyo is a smashing success, and we’d like to think that it’s not just because one of his partners is a J-pop superstar.) He takes no special satisfaction in dodging the Kobe Club debacle, however: “I became close with those people, and feel bad for what they’re experiencing.” Still, he can’t help noting that “everything happens for a reason.”